Pinocchio
by FrankandJoe3
Summary: Dick was the Pinocchio to Bruce's Gippetto. He was as close as Bruce was going to get to having a real son and he couldn't have asked for more.


**Is Barbara still Batgirl in the YJ universe? I saw Bette, and she was a Batgirl too… I hope they make our angry redhead into batgirl again. I like seeing her on the show. She's a mix of Batman and Wally, so she's perfect. I still prefer KF/Rob, but she's perfect. If she had green eyes, she'd definitely be the outcome if somehow, our boy wonderful and our flashy kid managed to have a kid. The protectiveness from Batman, the looks from Wally (:**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters. **

Bruce Wayne had once been a regular Geppetto. He had been a moderately nice man with a moderately nice job that he, at times, could be happy with. The pages in his story seemed so empty though, like he needed something else to fill them up. In an effort to fill his pages with something that was actually readable, he had gone to the circus. Maybe it was to just occupy himself until he could think of what to do. Instead of a circus visit though, he ended up visiting a doll shop of a sort, forced to look out over a crowd of hundreds of dolls, most of which being the beautiful small ones that he knew he'd never have.

In the store, he had seen the most perfect doll. It had been up in the display case for all of the other dolls to look at. Bruce knew that he deserved that doll more than anyone else at the shop. The second he got the chance, he went to the doll in hopes to buy it or at least hold it. To his horror though, he found out that the doll already had owners; two loving ones in that case. And to make it even worse, others were out to get the doll that he wanted. Bruce defended the doll all he could, but the owners wouldn't let him anywhere near their precious belonging.

The owners weren't tough though. They let their guard down and suddenly, they lost their doll. Bruce didn't hesitate to grab the wooden doll and take it home, giving it a special place on the shelf. It didn't feel right though. The doll didn't belong to him. It belonged to its owners, but they were gone now. The doll needed a home and he offered one. The doll didn't seem happy with its home, if dolls could exhibit emotion. So Bruce sat down one night as his doll stared on blankly, off in its own little corner. He got onto his knees and he wished with all of his might.

"Please," he whispered, staring out the window onto the starry night, "Make him a real boy. I… I know it sounds stupid, but he's grown on me and if he was real, I just _know _I could make him happy."

Then he lay down and closed his eyes, dreaming of the doll he had left sitting on the shelf. The next day, he woke up to the sound of little clicks along the hardwood floor. He sat up in bed, hopeful that he'd see a real happy boy, dancing and grinning. Instead, he saw the doll walking with a slow pace. The stars had lied to him. He had wanted a real boy, a real son. Instead, he got a fake boy, one who'd always pretend to be a real son, but he'd never be one. Bruce was okay with that though. He'd love his new little Pinocchio with all of the heart he could manage, but inside, he knew that it wasn't enough.

The new little Pinocchio could tell that he was a near fail to his new 'father'. He was simply a stringless puppet, slowly struggling to be more and more human with every passing day. All he wanted was to make Bruce happy, so he kept pretending to be real. When hiding behind the mask wasn't enough, he slowly tied strings around his wrists and ankles, looping one through the back of his neck, tying it all to a big plus sign made of wood. That night, he limped into his father's room and weakly climbed up into the bed, lying in a crumpled heap by the hidden feet.

Bruce was hesitant, but little by little, he began to control his little Pinocchio. Most days, he'd try to cut the strings and let his wannabe little boy walk by himself, but his doll was afraid. He knew that his last owners had abandoned him and he was afraid of he stayed away too long, Bruce would abandon him too and he'd be put back into a doll shop, waiting for another owner to take him in and abandon him too. One day when Bruce was out at work, Dick, the little Pinocchio boy, knelt to his knees and peered out at the night sky.

"Please," he whispered, folding his wooden hands over one another. "Make me a real boy… I… I know it sounds stupid, but I want to impress Bruce and if I was real, I just _know _I could make him happy."

But life isn't a fairytale. That night, the stars frowned down on him. When he woke up the next morning, he was still a wooden doll with strings tied to his wrists, ankles and through the back of his neck. So he just went back to doing what he had taught himself from the moment he knew life existed: pretending.

**Him coming to life references him becoming a hero. Don't over think this. Bruce was a bachelor and wanted a kid; he went to the circus and ended up winning Dick in the end; he wanted him to be a real son; he got a sidekick. When does the new YJ came out? Review~!**

**-F.J.**


End file.
